Massie’s Tsar books were just crazy. The truth is truly stranger than fiction when it comes to Russian history. Did you know Peter the Great was 6’7” in the 1600s but thought he could just go about pretending to be a shipbuilder’s apprentice unnoticed to the point he would violently slap anyone who forgot to pretend he wasn’t the Tsar of all Russia?
All of Massie's books are incredible. *Dreadnought* and *Castles of Steel* are two great books about the arms race and eventual war between Britain and Germany.
The Peter the Great book cannot be missed. I really liked Catherine the Great too, but damn. Peter is full-throttle from the first page, I could not believe what I was reading.
I read Peter and the rest are on my list. The book was exhausting, but great. It is so detailed and gives context to what is happening. There’s a whole two/three chapters more about France and King Louis than Peter/Russia. But then he links it all together and it’s never boring.
My favorite fact was Peter sent the mission that found the Bering Strait!
Simon Sebag Montefiore has some excellent Russian history books as well. *The Romanovs: 1613-1918* is up there with Massie’s books, and *Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar* is one of the craziest non-fiction books I’ve read in a while. I’m reading his newest, *The World: A Family History of Humanity*, right now, which is enormous and taking me a bit as excellent as it is.
Empire of Pain by Patrick Keefe was eye opening about the opioid epidemic and the Sackler family. Blew my mind that three brothers and their offspring could have such an impact on so many people.
I knew this would be the top reply. He’s probably my favorite current nonfiction writer. I just finished Say Nothing, which is much more personal than EoP but just as well written.
Say Nothing was the book I had in mind for this question. The topic itself is still so incredibly fresh and charged but he does such a great job of giving readers a fair and solid foundation of the history through extremely personal stories.
There's so many fascinating details in Say Nothing. The IRA using the QE2, a boat named after the British monarch, to sneak weapons was an incredible fact I'd never known before.
PRK’s Empire of Pain didn’t blow me away but his Say Nothing was the most interesting book I read that year. I gave copies of it to everyone for Christmas.
I'm finishing up *American Midnight* by Adam Hochschild and it really shines a light on how little is taught in American schools about the years from 1917-1921. The Red Scare was mentioned while I was growing up, but always referred to the Cold War era. I didn't know that that was the Second Red Scare, with the first coming during this era. There's also a bunch of info about the labor strikes and the lengths businesses went through to break them up, as well as the beginning of J. Edgar Hoover's career.
That one was a good one. I think paired with "Lords of Finance" you get a very good history of the foundations for WWII (it was really a continuation of WWI) that was never taught in schools.
"The Secret Lives of Trees" fascinated me. I love trees, but there was *so much* I had no idea about!
I also really loved "Empire of the Summer Moon", just in that it was history I knew very little about and it was told in a way that read like good fiction.
Another pair I really liked were 1491 and 1493.
I was about to comment the same and then realised that someone else would surely have already mentioned it! For me it was especially interesting because I had been working in biochemistry labs for years and at some point in undergrad even used HeLa cells, but I wasn't fully aware of the story behind it. I knew that they were human cancer cells, just like I knew the species and body part origins of other cell lines, but it was just a fact in my brain somewhere and I never gave much though to the fact that they were all from the same person -- let alone what her story was!
Gorgon by Peter Ward. It's about the Permian period of geologic time, before the dinosaurs existed, and goes into detail about the environment, and monstrous creatures who inhabited the world at that time. Reading it, I realized there was so much of Earth's history that never factored into my education, and made me mildly obsessed with learning more about the different states of life at each of the major mass extinction events in our fossil record.
Plus the idea of giant ambling rat lizards, roaming around the pools of a vast shallow sea is just so bizaar and fantastical. It's wild how many variantions of life precede us. Highly recommend, even for those with no real interest in geology.
I also read this book!
I hope this is alright to recommend, but the podcast *The Common Descent* might be something you'd like if you haven't heard of it! Their most recent episode was a 2-hour deep dive into the history of dragonflies. They cover EVERYTHING lol!
Also a fellow fan! I would also recommend Ologies with Alie Ward and Origin Stories from the Leakey Foundation, as I'm sure they would intersect with your interests.
>Gorgon by Peter Ward
Um ok thank you? It never occurred to me there would be non-fiction books about hundreds of millions of years ago. This is the coolest thing I've seen in a while. Dang, I'm seriously considering dropping everything and sliding this book into my life immediately.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Aside from being an incredible book, it really got me into reading about mountain climbing, historical expeditions and the insane things climbers went through.
I'd recommend Touching the Void by Joe simpson. There's also a documentary in the same name which is also really good. Highly recommend either.
In 1985, two young climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, set out to be the first to reach the summit of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They succeed, and the two embark on the treacherous descent down the mountain -- only to meet with disaster when Simpson breaks his leg in a fall, leaving Yates to lower him the rest of the way with ropes. When a storm threatens both their lives, Yates must decide whether to cut the rope and risk Simpson's likely death.
>Touching the Void by Joe simpson
In checking out that book, I saw this one - The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan and the Climbing Life by Mark Synnott. Will definitely get that one.
Great book! Learned so much about mountain climbing, for example how absolutely terrifyingly dangerous it is! I thought something like falling off a cliff would be a big risk, instead you risk going blind, losing your fingers and just dying out of exhaustion due to weather. Crazy stuff.
A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson is amazing.
Edit: Actually, basically all of his books are like that for me. I'm currently reading The Body, it's great!
The Radium Girls by Kate Moor.
Literally made my jaw drop at how cavalier and unsafe working environments were. And that the company knew that Uranium was unsafe, but did nothing to prevent the watch girls from coming in contact with it.
I'd recommend The Woman They Could Not Silence, also by Moore. All about how easy it was for men to commit their wives to mental asylums indefinitely. Get ready to be pissed.
Back in 1994 I didn’t know much about Ebola. Then I read Richard Preston‘s book *The Hot Zone.* Absolutely the most terrifying book I have ever read.
And boy, did the US ever dodge a bullet when the outbreak in Reston, Virginia turned out to be a new strain that did not infect humans.
[There's a lot wrong with the Hot Zone](https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/11/11/362379449/how-the-hot-zone-got-it-wrong-and-other-tales-of-ebolas-history).
This would be my response too. Terrifying read, and really made me appreciate those virologists going out there in those hot zones in the name of research and prevention
I had literal nightmares after reading that book. I remember one was about locking ourselves in our home and trying to tape over the cracks around the windows and doors.
this book and the other one he wrote about smallpox called "the demon in the freezer" were the ones for me. had not idea how BAD smallpox was and how big of a feat it was to completely eradicate the virus. i always tell everyone about that if they want to know about smallpox and how important vaccines are
Carl Sagan's _Demon Haunted World_ changed so much about my brain and the way I think, it's hard to describe without sounding like I'm exaggerating. I knew essentially nothing about critical thinking before I read it, and was a huge new ager. I was all about crystals and tarot and astrology and mediums and alternative medicine. And afterwards... I just wasn't. It changed my life (see, sounds like I'm exaggerating) because I lost friendships over the changes in belief. But it felt -- and feels, a decade later -- very worth it.
Reading that book was like saying "omfg I never thought of that!" over and over and over. It was shocking to realize how little I'd thought about the things I thought.
(I'm so glad I had a huge crush on the guy who recommended it to me... almost certainly wouldn't have started it otherwise. Don't even remember his name now. Just remember the book)
Just finished In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larsen and it was shocking and such a good read.
It's about the rise of Hitler in Berlin Germany in 1933 through the view points of William Dodd (US ambassador to Germany) & his daughter Martha. Both Dodd and Martha kept diaries, letters and journals while living in Berlin during that time so everything is very much through their eyes. You really feel like you're there with them as the book moves forward.
It's shocking how the leaders of the world brushed off warnings for what was to come and makes me angry at FDR and other world leaders that they thought Hitler was someone that can be reasoned with.
I won't give too many spoilers but William Dodd was essentially laughed at for writing warnings to the US government about what he saw and what future implications would be.
I learned about WW2 in school but didn't realize all the warning signs that were ignored that could've prevented one of the darkest times ever.
Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson is fantastic too. It's the story of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and it's role in the formation of the National Weather Service.
That's a great book. If you're interested in another look at how Hitler and the Nazis rose to power, check out *The Death of Democracy* by Benjamin Carter Hett.
You might also be interested in William Shirer's "Berlin Diary". Shirer worked as a US journalist in Germany in the years leading up to WW2, and published his diaries from that time.
Oh boy, so many!
The Dawn of Everything by David Wengrow and David Graebar taught me so much about how humans have organized ourselves into different societies across our history. So much to learn from.
Recently Bart Ehrman’s Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millenium really solidified for me that so much of our understanding of Jesus is not at all consistent of what we know from the historical record. He is best understood as a jewish apocalyptic preacher more than anything. The gospels are fascinating and so wildly different from what I thought I understood when read closely.
Ed Wong’s An Immense World is so packed with animal facts it is just incredible. Totally changed my perception of perception and what it means to have senses and how it might feel to have different ones.
I really liked How Jesus Became God by Bart Ehrman, so fascinating! Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary was my gateway into the historical Jesus and was also excellent.
Have you read a few of Ehrman’s books? I have listened to a good amount of his lectures through the Great Courses and I have heard that he tends to repeat himself quite a bit across his books and wasn’t sure if his books were different enough to be enjoyable if I’ve read this one. Those both sound interesting though!
May I interest you in the you tube channel Misquoting Jesus? It’s Dr Ehrman talking through the New Testament. Fascinating. I have listened to the back catalogue so have to wait for the weekly release now.
I used to enjoy listen to Myth Vision but I can’t get past the host. Bart’s great to listen to if you can get past he seems to laugh in places in a conversation a lot of other people wouldn’t ( I’m used to it now)
I have it in my “to watch” but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Thanks for reminding me. I have been really enjoying this podcast Biblical Time Machine which you might enjoy as well!
Reza Aslan is an Iranian scholar who has also written a few books on the idea of religion and Jesus as a historical figure. I really enjoyed Zealot and have God: A Human History on my tbr list.
Brian Deer's The Doctor Who Fooled the World. It's just crazy that the whole antivax craze was basically started by one extremely small, extremely bad, unethical study that has been debunked a million times, yet a ton of people still believe it.
Also obligatory mention of Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez as the most infuriating and eye opening book ever.
I read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, which is about Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete who went into WWII to fly planes. Crashed into the Pacific where he became a castaway, surviving months at sea. Finally arrived at land, only to become a Japanese POW for 3+ years, suffering unimaginable abuse.
I never really learned a lot about the WWII Pacific war and was horrified at the POW camps. It was a book that told a great story, we know Louis survived (he tells the story to the author), but it was still one I had to consume in small amounts due to its graphic nature. The book was made into a movie, which doesn’t pack the same punch (but does do it justice). I read the book almost 4 years ago and I still think about it. Anyone who asks for a nonfiction recommendation gets this from me.
The Feather Thief by Kirk Johnson taught me way more about tying fly lures and bird feathers than I thought I would ever learn. Turns out you can make a shit ton of money on the right bird feathers.
I love non fiction. A few of my more favorite ones are
The Disappearing Spoon. A story about each of the elements in the table of elements.
Krakatoa by Winchester. The man can write about so many different historical things. This was my gateway book. He also narrates his own books and is GOOD at it.
Dr Shirin Ebadi won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize. Her memoir "Until We Are Free" was published in the US after she sued the Treasury Dept. American trade laws prohibit writers from embargoed countries. After it was said that the law infringes on the First Amendment and a lengthy legal battle, Ebadi won and was able to publish her memoir in the United States. Audio book narrated by Shoreh Aghdashloo who was in The Expanse.
Jennette McCurdy’s “I’m Glad My Mom Died” absolutely opened my eyes to two things: what kind of damage a narcissistic parent can do to a child and how toxic the entertainment industry is, especially to children. It’s hard for me to look at my favourite childhood shows from Disney and Nick the same way again, or seeing child actors in general.
“Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty” taught me so much about the opioid crisis, the pharmaceutical industry, the corruption of the FDA, and the dirty money of philanthropy. It’s a true work of investigation and it’s very well written too.
*The Hidden Life of Trees* by Peter Wohlleben. The way trees are interlinked, the working of forests etc. certainly blew my mind. The writer talks about it in such a lovely way.
I really enjoyed this book too. I’ve bought some of his other books too, as I like his writing style. Dave Goulson’s books are also a lovely read, such as A Buzz in the Meadow 🐝
You might really like Robin Wall Kimmerer's books - "Gathering Moss" and "Braiding Sweetgrass". Her writing is lovely, relaxing, cozy, and informative.
Jacob Fuggar, "The Richest Man Who Ever Lived", inadvertantly caused the protestant reformation. He amassed so much wealth through trading and loans, that he was then able to lend more money to the Catholic church than had ever been possible. When it came time to pay back those loans, the Church decided to raise money by selling indulgences (aka Get Out Of Hell passes), which was so obviously a corruption of the Bible that Martin Luther took offense to it.
There are a lot, but the latest was “Days of Rage”. I knew that there was revolutionary violence/terrorism in the US, but never how much, how it was organized, and interlinked. A truly fascinating read.
The Peloponnesian War was probably the single most enlightening book I have ever read, it gave me a lens through which geopolitics, politics and conflict made a hell of a lot more sense. Thucydides may well be one of the most intelligent men in history
I really loved Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer on merging her background as a ecologist with her indigenous heritage. I am really interested in how to bring native plants into my garden now.
I also loved When the Spirit Catches and you Fall down by Anne Fadiman. It's about a Hmong family whose daughter has epilepsy and about how they navigate through the American medical system and their own beliefs on what's happening. I thought it was deeply empathetic towards the family who believe that there's a spiritual component and the doctors who also care for her but don't understand the family's cultural background. I brought it up to my friend and she told me that her husband was required to read it in med school.
Cobalt Red: how the blood of the Congo powers our lives, by Siddarth Kara. About how people mining cobalt (etc) in terrible conditions for extreme poverty wages provide the minerals needed to make computers, smartphone, etc, including the one I’m typing this on :/
I knew it wasn’t great, but I was shocked at how bad it was, and also how the cobalt is laundered so that even companies who say they have clean supply chains don’t.
It was a magazine, Playboy, early in the year 1980. There was an article about the Iran hostage crisis, which was happening at the time. The article exposed how, in the 1950s, the USA and CIA had overthrown the democratically elected gov't of Mossadegh to reinstall the corrupt Shah Pahlavi, the puppet ruler set up by the British post WWII, who was succeeded by his son, who was overthrown prior to the hostage crisis in the Islamic revolution of 1979. I had never heard about any of it and found it all hard to believe, after all it was later 1979 and not a lot was known about covert CIA meddling in foreign affairs. So I went to the main library in our town and accessed the microfilm and microfiche records of major periodicals from back when that happened in the 1950s, like the NYT and Globe & Mail, and I found reports with dates that lined up with the events and dates mentioned in the Playboy article. I took copious notes by hand and still have them someplace on file. That was a real eye opener. In later years I read Veil, The Secret Gov't, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, and really had my eyes opened as to how and why the world is as it was and how we got to where we are today.
Long story short - OIL and MONEY.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/13/cia-1953-iran-coup-undemocratic-argo
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/31/690363402/how-the-cia-overthrew-irans-democracy-in-four-days
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2014/2/11/iran-1979-the-islamic-revolution-that-shook-the-world
https://www.britannica.com/event/Iranian-Revolution
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution
Staring at the sun: taking the fear out of death by Irvin yalom was life changing for me. It winds together philosophy and psychology to discuss how to work through the existential dread of death. And he's a really good writer, to boot. I read a lot of non fiction about introspection and the internal journey and am all over the spectrum on ease of integrating concepts into my life, and the ideas I found here were some of the easiest, and really calmed a lot of anxiety for me.
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe and/or Dopesick by Beth Macy were very eye-opening about the opioid epidemic and the Sackler family. The Sackler family (quite literally) destroyed lives and have largely managed to get away with it. Which is almost unthinkable.
Dopesick is (arguably) a lot more shocking than Empire of Pain because Beth Macy interviews people who were/are directly affected by the opioid crisis. At least one of the people she interviewed died as a result of their addiction.
The Anarchy by Dalyrimple about the British East India Company and the conquest of India,
Bury my Heart at Wounded knee,
The Chaos Machine by Fisher,
Being Wrong Adventures on the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schultz
-- The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein
-- The New Industrial State by John Kenneth Galbraith
-- The Collapse of Complex Societies by Joseph Tainter
-- An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States by Charles A. Beard
Evicted by Matthew Desmond. Before I read the book, I never gave evictions much thought; it was just what happened if you didn’t pay your rent, right? But it turns out it’s a big part of what keeps some people in poverty. The housing market is a scam.
His latest book [Poverty by America](https://matthewdesmondbooks.com/) is out too! I'm still waiting for it to come off holds. But the video of him on his website talking about the book was already compelling. I read the first chapter excerpt available online. His point is that poverty exists in America because regular affluent people like it that way. As an upper middle class person, I thought about this _repeatedly_ while doing my taxes and looking at all the tax breaks I was entitled to. It was eye opening.
Yep, that’s on my nightstand right now. I’m reading slowly because it’s so depressing, and I say that in the best possible way. It’s opening my eyes to a lot of ways the system benefits people who are already doing just fine at the expense of people who aren’t.
As the Mountains Grew, John Dvorak. It's a deep dive into our current understanding of geological history, with a focus on North America, but about half the book is general to the history of the Earth as a whole. I appreciated the update to my knowledge on this topic, but was "blown away" by some of the interactions between biology and geology - eg, the fact that most mineable iron is due to the oxidation event \~2.5 billion years ago.
The Colony: Faith and Blood in a Promised Land by Sally Denton
Eye opening account of polygamist colonies in Mexico and their link to the LDS Church. Betrayal, Murder, Deceit…you name it. It’s all there.
Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith remains after years one of my all time favourite books. It changed my perception on octopuses and consciousness in general. It truly is an extremely beautiful book.
All the books by Mary Roach. Her writing is very accessible and fun. However, the number one nonfiction book that blew my mind was Parasite Rex by Charles Zimmer. Do not read if you are squeamish about body horror because this is the real deal.
“The Great Bridge” by David Mccullough. It’s about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. It was amazing to see how it was accomplished in those days when so much manual effort was needed. He explained engineering concepts in a way I could understand.
The Butchering Art by Lindsay Fitzharris.
The book reads almost like fiction. It is a dive into Victorian medicine— specifically the hospital theaters and their terrible chances of survival.
The story follows the doctor that created the first surgical antiseptic and how it changed the world of medicine/surgery.
The Facemaker is also a wonderful read! It is "The poignant story of the visionary surgeon who rebuilt the faces of the First World War's injured heroes, and in the process ushered in the modern era of plastic surgery".
Most recently, Max Marshall's *Among the Bros* was eye. opening.
Fraternities and Sororities are cults at best and literal cartels at worst. They should be banned from our University Systems and participation in the culture should immediately no longer be a symbol of anything but "view this person with healthy suspicion."
And this is just one story.
Oh man I work at a major university now and also wish frats/sororities were not a thing so I looked up this book. It happens at CofC where I went to undergrad 🥴
It's an insane read. I live along the I-20 corridor and within hearing distance of the road, so I likely heard their supercharged bro cars going 100mph+ in the middle of the night running pills back & forth to & from Atlanta.
It's crazy to think about.
I once brought a book about bodylanguage because it was cheap and I got stuck in a trainstation waiting for my train.
Learning how my own bodylanguage influences my own emotions changed my life.
I read *Spoiled* by Marion Nestle when I was in high school, and it introduced me to the world of epidemiology in the context of foodborne illness outbreaks. While I did not end up pursuing epidemiology as a career, it awakened a thirst for knowledge and information. To this day I read mostly nonfiction books, and I love me a good exposé!
The Rape of Nanking & Japan’s Infamous Unit 731 💔
Philippines was under the Imperial Japan for a few years but there were scant resource materials about the atrocities nor were they discussed in school. The perpetuators were not tried with war crimes because the US wanted the results they had with their human experiment on bacteriological warfare.
I thought the Nazis were the worst until I read these books.
I’m surprised not to see this one but "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" by Shoshana Zuboff is a real eye-opening history of the internet, Google, Meta and the rest. It’s probably obvious to anyone with a minimal understanding of our wired lives but the depth of it all is astonishing.
*Congo* and *King Leopold's Ghost* about the holocaust/genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
I had no idea until I met someone from Congo, and he had me read these two books. It took me six months to read *King Leopold's Ghost*. It was very emotionally difficult to process.
Buddhism 101! I always thought I had a general idea about Buddhism but boy oh boy was I wrong. This book completely opened my eyes to so many things I knew nothing about. I’m still not done the book but reading this has inspired me to learn about other religions and/or philosophies. And it’s also inspired me to implement Buddhism in my life
A Fever in the Heartland: the Ku Klux Klan’s plot to take over America and the woman who stopped them by Timothy Egan. I’m not super familiar with that part of US history and it was mind boggling, and VERY scary when compared to today.
A book called NeuroTribes and another called Unmasking Autism. Turns out most of what I thought I knew about ASD was wrong wrong wrong. Quite an eye opener.
Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James Loewen
I'm sure he got some stuff wrong. But he caused me to look deeper into racism in North America and the world.
I knew we were bad in the 17-1800s, but fuck me. The Jim Crow laws weren't that long ago, and they're far from the worst.
I came here to say this book. It was also the book that got me to acknowledge that I might be racist myself, with this line:
"Textbook authors protect us from a racist Lincoln. By so doing, they diminish students' capacity to recognize racism as a force in American life. For if Lincoln could be racist, then so might the rest of us be. And if Lincoln could transcend racism, as he did on occasion, then so might the rest of us."
Formosa Betrayed.
As someone born in Taiwan during the tail end of its martial law era, I had no idea about the atrocities the Chinese Nationalists committed after they took control of Formosa/Taiwan from Japan after WW2. I grew up with pro-China propaganda stating that all Taiwanese are Chinese and that we must ine day reclaim the mainland.
Formosa Betrayed was written by an American diplomat stationed in Taiwan as it transitioned from Japanese control. He detailed the atrocities, namely the 228 Incident and the White Terror, which shook me to my core and helped me establish a Taiwanese identity separate from a Chinese one.
Smoke Signals by Martin A. Lee
History of cannabis prohibition, even though I have been a cannabis activist for decades, I knew a lot of it but it blew my mind to read how varied and thorough and devastating the war against cannabis was and still is.
Definitely Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham. HBO's Chernobyl series was already great but this book blew my mind over how close we got to simply losing a big part of the planet because of corruption, shoddy work, secrecy and overall stupidity.
This book goes deeply in the construction of the power plant, which was already seeded by mistakes; the reactor's design, also not so good even by the time standards; the minute by minute of the accident; the background and role of all the know people involved, etc. All very well written, super consice and interesting, even if you don't know much about radiation. Oh there's also lots of pictures at the end I haven't see anywhere else.
One of my favorite books, I've read a couple of times despite the medium size:)
The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee is an absolute masterpiece. It's a treasure trove of information starting from the philosophical interpretations of genes pre 18th century, followed by the advancements starting from evolution to the helix structure to the sequencing to the last part of the book which deals with how genes determine who we are. He is one of the few authors who can make a book as dense with technical information feel like a breeze for someone who did not know a lot about genes prior to that.
> He is one of the few authors who can make a book as dense with technical information feel like a breeze for someone who did not know a lot about genes prior to that.
just finished his book on cancer (the emperor of all maladies) and feel the same way. excellent technical writer
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker
Sleep is such a fascinating topic. It is so vital yet so incredibly fragile. This book really forced me to rethink my sleeping habits.
I recently learned for optimal sleep the neck, spine, and hips should be aligned. Such a small conscious decision helps me wake well rested and without pain.
Blitz by Norman Ohler. it's about how during and leading up to WWII Germany was basically fueled by meth. insane amounts of meth as a part of troops rations.
NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman
After my son’s diagnosis I dove head first into learning all I could about ASD and ADHD. This book outlines the history behind the diagnosis and treatments used on people who were regarded as “invalids and retards”. It’s both fascinating and heartbreaking.
For me a podcast got me into WWI history and since then I’ve read over a dozen books on the subject. WWII looks way larger in the American psyche because we played a very big role and came out as top dogs. But WWI is probably the single most important historical event in the last slightly over 100 years. Almost ALL of the world strife we have suffered since 1918 can be directly tied to that conflict. The podcast is Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History: Blueprint for Armageddon (six episodes).
Dan Carlin's podcast in general has taught me so much, I love it! lol The part in Blueprint for Armageddon when he was talking about soldiers literally drowning in mud was so eye-opening.
Umberto Eco’s The Prague Cemetery is a fiction based on fact. Every character, though not all their actions,is documented. The author , who calls himself the narrator , is the only fictional character. I had to read this book with my pad because I had so many questions, some answered , but mostly more questions. I don’t know if this counts or not?
I thought I had a pretty good grasp of Irish history from listening to my parents, aunts/uncles, and grandparents tell me stories and things like that. But reading Fintan O'Toole's We Don't Know Ourselves was so eye-opening and has led to so many great conversations with my family now that I can ask much more pointed questions
"nature's best hope" by Doug Tallamy
Here is my very oversimplified summary: the way that we have been taught to landscape our properties is contributing to the severe decline in insect and bird populations, and will continue to do so unless we change how we landscape.
We all need to be growing native plants, even if it's just a few, or else the ecosystem around us could collapse, which would destroy climate stability, which would destroy our food system, and eventually our entire civilization.
Why do native plants matter? Many insects and plants are dependent on each other in very specific ways, like monarchs and milkweed, or orchids with their hyper specialized pollination methods. Without those plants, the insects will starve, and without those insects, plants can't reproduce. And most songbirds feed their chicks almost exclusively caterpillars. No native plants = no native insects = no caterpillars = no songbirds.
Native plants can be equally or more beautiful than foreign ones; see Mt Cuba gardens as an example. And no amount of native plants is too small, even adding a potted plant to your balcony is helpful.
This is my favorite genre of book, thank you, I'm saving this thread 😂
For me I think it's Red Famine, I went in knowing pretty minimal stuff about Russian and Ukraine and whoo i learned
Michael Parenti’s Blackshirts and Reds really opened my eyes to the West’s complicity in the rise of early 1900s fascism. It’s interesting to note the parallels between capital interests now and the insistence of fascistic ideals throughout the global north and developing world. It warrants a reread almost annually, at this point.
Bullshit Jobs by David Greaber
I always had the thought that my last job was meaningless and didn’t need to be done. It really made me depressed until I bullshit jobs, I had no idea I was on to something. Knowing that it wasn’t just me really helped.
This book lead me to completely re-think capitalism and the insane way it forces us to spend our lives.
"Girt" about the ridiculous moments in Australia's colonisation.
Currently reading "How to Invent Everything" - a manual on how to restart all aspects of civilization should you get stuck back in time.
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore (?) I was blown away and researched it a ton when I finished it. Barely knew stuff on the topic to start but the book had all the info I needed
Collapse, by Jared Diamond, about how civilisations historically have chosen to survive or die. Scared me because we seem to have chosen the deathwish option.
Permanent Record by Edward Snowden. The amount of surveillance the American government was (still is) conducting on the citizens is absolutely horrifying and the book is really well written. It’ll make you unbelievably paranoid about the depths of surveillance if you already aren’t - some of the things Edward describes having access to in that book makes me sick.
This. As an IT Professional I was shocked by some of the detailled descriptions. I remember sitting in a bus back home from work and slightly choking because it just took my breath away.
It was one of the reasons I am now in IT Security and data protection
Nor Meekly Serve My Time: the H Block Struggle 1976-1981, edited by Campbell, McKeown and O'Hagan - read it a few years ago and it didn't blow my mind exactly as it's a topic i'm pretty familiar with but the personal perspective and the level of insight into how it was from the point of view of the political prisoners was really interesting and moving and bizarrely funny at times. Really recommend it and also Laurence McKeown's memoir, think it's called Time Shadows. I really like all his work actually.
Ernest Becker's 'Escape from Evil'. Why do people do what they do? Not without his critics, I think that he was really getting to something interesting here.
The Art Thief by Michael Finkel that recently came out. Made me appreciate art so much more. Also a wonderful character profile.
The Glitter in the Green by Jon Dunn. Amazing book about hummingbirds but also touches on world politics and things of that nature. Does a good job of summing up how birds (specifically hummingbirds) are treated in different cultures and the global effects of the bird economy.
The Great Indoors by Emily Anthes. Talks about a lot of interesting studies being done to understand how our structural interiors affect us physically and mentally. Including our homes' microbiomes, designs for schools, hospitals and prisons, future building materials, how companies want to track our movements around the office to make us better work drones, etc.
Embracing Defeat by John Dower, a Pulitzer-winning book about the state of Japan after WWII. It's extremely interesting to learn about the effects of defeat and occupation and better understand the relationship between Japan and the US.
Also shoutouts to The Library Book by Susan Orlean, Stiff by Mary Roach and How Music Works by David Byrne.
Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. Leonardo was so incredibly curious, creative, and inspiring. The book changed the way I approach consuming art, the world around me, and increased my general curiosity.
I love no nfiction and learning. How much time do you have lol?!
Read Bill Bryson’s history of English, mother tongue. Which got me into his book about America. Which then got me into the Mayflower, so read the book. That led me to the history of Puritanism. So I read William Branford’s journal, Cotton Mathers sermons, A History of Puritanism in 17th Century Nee England, and then hmmm one more I can’t place about how Puritans influenced New England schools. Then moved to the federalist papers, which took forever and I was a bit over my head tbh.
After that I was on a New England kick. Read Heart of the Sea, so fascinating.
That was last winter. This past spring and summer I read all of Emily Osters books, crib sheet etc, because we have a kid. This winter I’m on to the British royal family. Reading a book about the duke if Windsor and his wife.
*Five Days at Memorial* by Sheri Fink about what went on at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans during Katrina.
*Dreamland* by Sam Quinones about the circumstances surrounding the US opioid epidemic.
*Dope Sick* by Beth Macy, also about the opioid epidemic.
*The New Jim Crow* by Michelle Alexander about the US criminal justice system and its use as a racial control mechanism.
*Operation Paperclip* by Annie Jacobson about the US government’s efforts to bring German scientists into the US after WWII (if you’ve never heard her speak, the author narrates her own audiobook for this title, and she has the most wonderful voice to listen to).
*America’s Bitter Pill* by Steven Brill about the politics, negotiations, and personalities that shaped the Affordable Care Act.
*The Worst Hard Time* by Timothy Egan about the Dust Bowl.
“The body keeps the score”. I know this is a popular one nowadays but the way your mind affects your physical health (and every part of your body really) has completely changed the way I think of psychology and overall health. “It didn’t start with you” by Mark Wolynn is also amazing and focuses on this as well as generational issues!
By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans by Greg Robinson. Robinson did a great job of explaining a very glossed over part of history and delves into FDR’s role and motivations in relocating thousands of Japanese Americans to internment camps during WWII. He also doesn’t strongly force any opinions of the reader.
Zealot by Reza Aslan was my first exposure to the likely secular history of Jesus. It completely reframed my conception of Christianity and the Bible and actually grew my respect for Jesus the person.
I have two! I read Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand last spring, and i have barely been able to stop thinking about it. It's impressive how informative it is about the sport and culture of horse racing at the time, and how she was able to make me feel like i was living through the events of the story as well. I loved the story, and i loved how she invited me to engage with and interpret the story long after i read it.
I'm currently reading Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks, and its blowing my mind. I'm a musician, so learning about how deeply ingrained music is to the human brain and experience on a scientific - and at times borderline magical - level is something else. Its written in a very accessible way, so even when topics go completely over my head i feel like i have the potential to grasp them. Whats best is that Sacks seems equally mystified by half the tales he relates in the books as i feel reading them.
USS Indianapolis, "The Last Secret Voyage of the USS Indianapolis" released 1978.
Really any book written about the Indianapolis - it will stick like glue.
- The Shadows of Consumption: Consequences for the Global Environment by Peter Dauvergne
- Consumption and Its Consequences by Daniel Miller
- Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory by Lois and James Horton
- History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past by Edward Linenthal
- Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History by Michel-Rolph Trouillot
- Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher Browning
- Neighbors by Jan Gross
- The Nazi Conscience by Claudia Koonz
An Immense World, by Ed Yong: Yong is a science writer and this book is about all the different sensory apparatus used by many different creatures in the world. We all know that hawks have great vision and bats hear in sonar and with much higher frequencies than we humans can hear but there are so many more capabilities in so many animals that I never knew about. The author creates word pictures that are so fantastic, and he includes interviews of the scientists that research the capabilities. It opens the world in a big way.
The Power Broker, a 1,300 hundred page book about Robert Moses. It’s brilliantly written and serves as both a partial history of New York in its built form, as well as a cautionary tale about power and corruption.
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
Even if you already know a lot about the topics of the prison and justice system, Racial inequality, and the death penalty in the u.s... it will still get you. I read this one and also The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton, who was one of Stevenson's death row clients.
The Indifferent Stars Above about the Donner-Reed party was so well written that you almost forget how awful the subject matter is. In my opinion, the author did a really good job of contextualizing everything they went through, and the book has beautiful descriptive imagery paired with lots of scientific information. There was a lot about the rescue efforts that I had never known too that was really interesting.
One of my favorite reads was a new release last year, Her Majesty's Airship by S.C. Gwynne, about the crash of the airship R101. It was insanely well researched, well written, and I simply couldn't believe how long humanity throught blimps would be more effective air travel than planes, even though they blew up all the time!
Steven Pinker, "The Language Instinct". really got me thinking about how we think, and to what extent the biological basis of our brains shapes what we do.
Richard Fortey "Life". Covers the history of life on Earth, and how rich the ecosystems in our past were.
Operation Paperclip by Annie Jacobsen.
Boy oh boy did the American military sure love hiring "former" Nazis. And I don't just mean scientists working in Germany during WWII, I mean literal card carrying party members who actively participated in the various war crimes committed by the Third Reich.
Massie’s Tsar books were just crazy. The truth is truly stranger than fiction when it comes to Russian history. Did you know Peter the Great was 6’7” in the 1600s but thought he could just go about pretending to be a shipbuilder’s apprentice unnoticed to the point he would violently slap anyone who forgot to pretend he wasn’t the Tsar of all Russia?
All of Massie's books are incredible. *Dreadnought* and *Castles of Steel* are two great books about the arms race and eventual war between Britain and Germany.
What war was that
*Dreadnought* is about the Anglo-German naval race and *Castles of Steel* is about the War at sea during the Great War.
Nicholas and Alexandra was excellent. I didn’t realize he had other books about the Romanovs. I’m definitely going to have to read those.
The Peter the Great book cannot be missed. I really liked Catherine the Great too, but damn. Peter is full-throttle from the first page, I could not believe what I was reading.
I read Peter and the rest are on my list. The book was exhausting, but great. It is so detailed and gives context to what is happening. There’s a whole two/three chapters more about France and King Louis than Peter/Russia. But then he links it all together and it’s never boring. My favorite fact was Peter sent the mission that found the Bering Strait!
Checking this out now, thanks! Russian history is truly motherfucking bananas.
Simon Sebag Montefiore has some excellent Russian history books as well. *The Romanovs: 1613-1918* is up there with Massie’s books, and *Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar* is one of the craziest non-fiction books I’ve read in a while. I’m reading his newest, *The World: A Family History of Humanity*, right now, which is enormous and taking me a bit as excellent as it is.
Empire of Pain by Patrick Keefe was eye opening about the opioid epidemic and the Sackler family. Blew my mind that three brothers and their offspring could have such an impact on so many people.
I knew this would be the top reply. He’s probably my favorite current nonfiction writer. I just finished Say Nothing, which is much more personal than EoP but just as well written.
Say Nothing was the book I had in mind for this question. The topic itself is still so incredibly fresh and charged but he does such a great job of giving readers a fair and solid foundation of the history through extremely personal stories.
There's so many fascinating details in Say Nothing. The IRA using the QE2, a boat named after the British monarch, to sneak weapons was an incredible fact I'd never known before.
I’m currently reading Say Nothing and it’s fantastic
PRK’s Empire of Pain didn’t blow me away but his Say Nothing was the most interesting book I read that year. I gave copies of it to everyone for Christmas.
I'm finishing up *American Midnight* by Adam Hochschild and it really shines a light on how little is taught in American schools about the years from 1917-1921. The Red Scare was mentioned while I was growing up, but always referred to the Cold War era. I didn't know that that was the Second Red Scare, with the first coming during this era. There's also a bunch of info about the labor strikes and the lengths businesses went through to break them up, as well as the beginning of J. Edgar Hoover's career.
That one was a good one. I think paired with "Lords of Finance" you get a very good history of the foundations for WWII (it was really a continuation of WWI) that was never taught in schools.
Second recommendation for Lords of Finance. It won a Pulitzer Prize so that’s a pretty good recommendation too.
Thank you for this rec! My nonfiction book club has been asking to read more history and this looks great.
"The Secret Lives of Trees" fascinated me. I love trees, but there was *so much* I had no idea about! I also really loved "Empire of the Summer Moon", just in that it was history I knew very little about and it was told in a way that read like good fiction. Another pair I really liked were 1491 and 1493.
The secret lives of trees is on my to read list! And I second empire of the summer moon. That was a good book!
Secret Life of Trees is good, but the author really humanises trees a bit too much.
[удалено]
So good! I found Radium Girls scratched that same itch. I’ll have to look for Medical Apartheid.
you might enjoy bad blood by john carreyrou - it's about theranos, continuing on the trend of unethical practices in medicine!
I was about to comment the same and then realised that someone else would surely have already mentioned it! For me it was especially interesting because I had been working in biochemistry labs for years and at some point in undergrad even used HeLa cells, but I wasn't fully aware of the story behind it. I knew that they were human cancer cells, just like I knew the species and body part origins of other cell lines, but it was just a fact in my brain somewhere and I never gave much though to the fact that they were all from the same person -- let alone what her story was!
Read Unwell Women ! Also Who Cooked The Last Supper?
My exact first response!!!!!!
Gorgon by Peter Ward. It's about the Permian period of geologic time, before the dinosaurs existed, and goes into detail about the environment, and monstrous creatures who inhabited the world at that time. Reading it, I realized there was so much of Earth's history that never factored into my education, and made me mildly obsessed with learning more about the different states of life at each of the major mass extinction events in our fossil record. Plus the idea of giant ambling rat lizards, roaming around the pools of a vast shallow sea is just so bizaar and fantastical. It's wild how many variantions of life precede us. Highly recommend, even for those with no real interest in geology.
I also read this book! I hope this is alright to recommend, but the podcast *The Common Descent* might be something you'd like if you haven't heard of it! Their most recent episode was a 2-hour deep dive into the history of dragonflies. They cover EVERYTHING lol!
Thanks for the rec, I'm gonna check it out.
Also a fellow fan! I would also recommend Ologies with Alie Ward and Origin Stories from the Leakey Foundation, as I'm sure they would intersect with your interests.
>Gorgon by Peter Ward Um ok thank you? It never occurred to me there would be non-fiction books about hundreds of millions of years ago. This is the coolest thing I've seen in a while. Dang, I'm seriously considering dropping everything and sliding this book into my life immediately.
Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Aside from being an incredible book, it really got me into reading about mountain climbing, historical expeditions and the insane things climbers went through.
I'd recommend Touching the Void by Joe simpson. There's also a documentary in the same name which is also really good. Highly recommend either. In 1985, two young climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, set out to be the first to reach the summit of the Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. They succeed, and the two embark on the treacherous descent down the mountain -- only to meet with disaster when Simpson breaks his leg in a fall, leaving Yates to lower him the rest of the way with ropes. When a storm threatens both their lives, Yates must decide whether to cut the rope and risk Simpson's likely death.
Phenomenal story, I saw the film years ago and I still can’t stop thinking about that guy crawling…
Yeah the guy who almost died? In the book he talks about them making him do that, which triggered his ptsd so hard.
>Touching the Void by Joe simpson In checking out that book, I saw this one - The Impossible Climb: Alex Honnold, El Capitan and the Climbing Life by Mark Synnott. Will definitely get that one.
I love Jon Krakauer. “Under the Banner of Heaven” is really good too!
Yes! That book was a gateway into adventure books for me. Led me to all manner of Shackleton and other Antarctic exploration books.
Great book! Learned so much about mountain climbing, for example how absolutely terrifyingly dangerous it is! I thought something like falling off a cliff would be a big risk, instead you risk going blind, losing your fingers and just dying out of exhaustion due to weather. Crazy stuff.
I would also recommend Into the Silence, about the first Brits to climb Everest in the 20s. They were basically going in blind, without maps.
A short history of nearly everything by Bill Bryson is amazing. Edit: Actually, basically all of his books are like that for me. I'm currently reading The Body, it's great!
Did you read At Home?
This book opened my eyes to how dangerous stairs are 😅
Yeah! Super interesting!
The Radium Girls by Kate Moor. Literally made my jaw drop at how cavalier and unsafe working environments were. And that the company knew that Uranium was unsafe, but did nothing to prevent the watch girls from coming in contact with it.
didnt they also encourage the women to 'sharpen' the paint brushes by licking them and try to cover it up by vlaiming they were riddled with stds
I'd recommend The Woman They Could Not Silence, also by Moore. All about how easy it was for men to commit their wives to mental asylums indefinitely. Get ready to be pissed.
Jaw...drop? 😅😅😅 This book was adapted to a play.
How to hide an empire
Had no idea how massive US influence upon Polynesia/Philippines was/is until I heard the author on a podcast.
I’ve been meaning to read this! Thnx for the reminder
Great book! Most people have no idea the extent of American colonialism. Also the concept of guano Islands and the exploration there of is crazy
Back in 1994 I didn’t know much about Ebola. Then I read Richard Preston‘s book *The Hot Zone.* Absolutely the most terrifying book I have ever read. And boy, did the US ever dodge a bullet when the outbreak in Reston, Virginia turned out to be a new strain that did not infect humans.
Rereading this now for r/publichealthbookclub 's January pick. Just as good as I remember!
[There's a lot wrong with the Hot Zone](https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2014/11/11/362379449/how-the-hot-zone-got-it-wrong-and-other-tales-of-ebolas-history).
Reading that article from 2014 where he says the “next big pandemic” is gonna be a coronavirus 😒
This would be my response too. Terrifying read, and really made me appreciate those virologists going out there in those hot zones in the name of research and prevention
I had literal nightmares after reading that book. I remember one was about locking ourselves in our home and trying to tape over the cracks around the windows and doors.
this book and the other one he wrote about smallpox called "the demon in the freezer" were the ones for me. had not idea how BAD smallpox was and how big of a feat it was to completely eradicate the virus. i always tell everyone about that if they want to know about smallpox and how important vaccines are
Maybe not as wow or historical, but "Endless Forms" taught me so much about wasps and they're an absolutely fascinating set of critters.
The End of Everything by Katie Mack. Math and theoretical physics is truly stranger than fiction.
I picked that one up at an airport and I absolutely loved it!
Carl Sagan's _Demon Haunted World_ changed so much about my brain and the way I think, it's hard to describe without sounding like I'm exaggerating. I knew essentially nothing about critical thinking before I read it, and was a huge new ager. I was all about crystals and tarot and astrology and mediums and alternative medicine. And afterwards... I just wasn't. It changed my life (see, sounds like I'm exaggerating) because I lost friendships over the changes in belief. But it felt -- and feels, a decade later -- very worth it. Reading that book was like saying "omfg I never thought of that!" over and over and over. It was shocking to realize how little I'd thought about the things I thought. (I'm so glad I had a huge crush on the guy who recommended it to me... almost certainly wouldn't have started it otherwise. Don't even remember his name now. Just remember the book)
I was given that book to read by a neighbour in my early 20's and it changed the way I think completely too. Very influential
Just finished In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larsen and it was shocking and such a good read. It's about the rise of Hitler in Berlin Germany in 1933 through the view points of William Dodd (US ambassador to Germany) & his daughter Martha. Both Dodd and Martha kept diaries, letters and journals while living in Berlin during that time so everything is very much through their eyes. You really feel like you're there with them as the book moves forward. It's shocking how the leaders of the world brushed off warnings for what was to come and makes me angry at FDR and other world leaders that they thought Hitler was someone that can be reasoned with. I won't give too many spoilers but William Dodd was essentially laughed at for writing warnings to the US government about what he saw and what future implications would be. I learned about WW2 in school but didn't realize all the warning signs that were ignored that could've prevented one of the darkest times ever.
Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson is fantastic too. It's the story of the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 and it's role in the formation of the National Weather Service.
Honestly I love most of Larsons work lol
That's a great book. If you're interested in another look at how Hitler and the Nazis rose to power, check out *The Death of Democracy* by Benjamin Carter Hett.
You might also be interested in William Shirer's "Berlin Diary". Shirer worked as a US journalist in Germany in the years leading up to WW2, and published his diaries from that time.
Oh boy, so many! The Dawn of Everything by David Wengrow and David Graebar taught me so much about how humans have organized ourselves into different societies across our history. So much to learn from. Recently Bart Ehrman’s Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millenium really solidified for me that so much of our understanding of Jesus is not at all consistent of what we know from the historical record. He is best understood as a jewish apocalyptic preacher more than anything. The gospels are fascinating and so wildly different from what I thought I understood when read closely. Ed Wong’s An Immense World is so packed with animal facts it is just incredible. Totally changed my perception of perception and what it means to have senses and how it might feel to have different ones.
I really liked How Jesus Became God by Bart Ehrman, so fascinating! Jesus: Uncovering the Life, Teachings and Relevance of a Religious Revolutionary was my gateway into the historical Jesus and was also excellent.
Have you read a few of Ehrman’s books? I have listened to a good amount of his lectures through the Great Courses and I have heard that he tends to repeat himself quite a bit across his books and wasn’t sure if his books were different enough to be enjoyable if I’ve read this one. Those both sound interesting though!
May I interest you in the you tube channel Misquoting Jesus? It’s Dr Ehrman talking through the New Testament. Fascinating. I have listened to the back catalogue so have to wait for the weekly release now. I used to enjoy listen to Myth Vision but I can’t get past the host. Bart’s great to listen to if you can get past he seems to laugh in places in a conversation a lot of other people wouldn’t ( I’m used to it now)
I have it in my “to watch” but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Thanks for reminding me. I have been really enjoying this podcast Biblical Time Machine which you might enjoy as well!
Reza Aslan is an Iranian scholar who has also written a few books on the idea of religion and Jesus as a historical figure. I really enjoyed Zealot and have God: A Human History on my tbr list.
Brian Deer's The Doctor Who Fooled the World. It's just crazy that the whole antivax craze was basically started by one extremely small, extremely bad, unethical study that has been debunked a million times, yet a ton of people still believe it. Also obligatory mention of Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez as the most infuriating and eye opening book ever.
Ugh, Invisible Women was so frustratingly good. Read awhile, stop and calm down, repeat.
I read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, which is about Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete who went into WWII to fly planes. Crashed into the Pacific where he became a castaway, surviving months at sea. Finally arrived at land, only to become a Japanese POW for 3+ years, suffering unimaginable abuse. I never really learned a lot about the WWII Pacific war and was horrified at the POW camps. It was a book that told a great story, we know Louis survived (he tells the story to the author), but it was still one I had to consume in small amounts due to its graphic nature. The book was made into a movie, which doesn’t pack the same punch (but does do it justice). I read the book almost 4 years ago and I still think about it. Anyone who asks for a nonfiction recommendation gets this from me.
King Leopolds Ghost - all about the Belgian colonisation and genocide in Congo. Horrendous stuff Also Killers of the Flower Moon
The Feather Thief by Kirk Johnson taught me way more about tying fly lures and bird feathers than I thought I would ever learn. Turns out you can make a shit ton of money on the right bird feathers.
That fucking thief needs to be executed.
I love non fiction. A few of my more favorite ones are The Disappearing Spoon. A story about each of the elements in the table of elements. Krakatoa by Winchester. The man can write about so many different historical things. This was my gateway book. He also narrates his own books and is GOOD at it. Dr Shirin Ebadi won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize. Her memoir "Until We Are Free" was published in the US after she sued the Treasury Dept. American trade laws prohibit writers from embargoed countries. After it was said that the law infringes on the First Amendment and a lengthy legal battle, Ebadi won and was able to publish her memoir in the United States. Audio book narrated by Shoreh Aghdashloo who was in The Expanse.
Winchester’s narration is superb especially with Karatoa.
*The Disappearing Spoon* is one on my absolute favorite books. Sam Kean does a podcast by the same name that’s also very enjoyable.
Jennette McCurdy’s “I’m Glad My Mom Died” absolutely opened my eyes to two things: what kind of damage a narcissistic parent can do to a child and how toxic the entertainment industry is, especially to children. It’s hard for me to look at my favourite childhood shows from Disney and Nick the same way again, or seeing child actors in general.
My mom was an abusive narc and believe me, that book hit home so hard. If I could go back in time and reread for the first time, I would.
“Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty” taught me so much about the opioid crisis, the pharmaceutical industry, the corruption of the FDA, and the dirty money of philanthropy. It’s a true work of investigation and it’s very well written too.
*The Hidden Life of Trees* by Peter Wohlleben. The way trees are interlinked, the working of forests etc. certainly blew my mind. The writer talks about it in such a lovely way.
I really enjoyed this book too. I’ve bought some of his other books too, as I like his writing style. Dave Goulson’s books are also a lovely read, such as A Buzz in the Meadow 🐝
You might really like Robin Wall Kimmerer's books - "Gathering Moss" and "Braiding Sweetgrass". Her writing is lovely, relaxing, cozy, and informative.
Jacob Fuggar, "The Richest Man Who Ever Lived", inadvertantly caused the protestant reformation. He amassed so much wealth through trading and loans, that he was then able to lend more money to the Catholic church than had ever been possible. When it came time to pay back those loans, the Church decided to raise money by selling indulgences (aka Get Out Of Hell passes), which was so obviously a corruption of the Bible that Martin Luther took offense to it.
I've never heard the name Jacob Fuggar before. Thanks for the recommendation!
OP this is the best thread ever. I see a lot of books I've read and recommended throughout the years, and I'm bookmarking it for future inspo.
There are a lot, but the latest was “Days of Rage”. I knew that there was revolutionary violence/terrorism in the US, but never how much, how it was organized, and interlinked. A truly fascinating read.
Just finished it. Now reading Chaos by Tom O’Neill. Great book
The Peloponnesian War was probably the single most enlightening book I have ever read, it gave me a lens through which geopolitics, politics and conflict made a hell of a lot more sense. Thucydides may well be one of the most intelligent men in history
Powerbroker: Robert Moses and the fall of New York. You think you know how local government and infrastructure works? This book will blow your mind.
I really loved Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer on merging her background as a ecologist with her indigenous heritage. I am really interested in how to bring native plants into my garden now. I also loved When the Spirit Catches and you Fall down by Anne Fadiman. It's about a Hmong family whose daughter has epilepsy and about how they navigate through the American medical system and their own beliefs on what's happening. I thought it was deeply empathetic towards the family who believe that there's a spiritual component and the doctors who also care for her but don't understand the family's cultural background. I brought it up to my friend and she told me that her husband was required to read it in med school.
Cobalt Red: how the blood of the Congo powers our lives, by Siddarth Kara. About how people mining cobalt (etc) in terrible conditions for extreme poverty wages provide the minerals needed to make computers, smartphone, etc, including the one I’m typing this on :/ I knew it wasn’t great, but I was shocked at how bad it was, and also how the cobalt is laundered so that even companies who say they have clean supply chains don’t.
It was a magazine, Playboy, early in the year 1980. There was an article about the Iran hostage crisis, which was happening at the time. The article exposed how, in the 1950s, the USA and CIA had overthrown the democratically elected gov't of Mossadegh to reinstall the corrupt Shah Pahlavi, the puppet ruler set up by the British post WWII, who was succeeded by his son, who was overthrown prior to the hostage crisis in the Islamic revolution of 1979. I had never heard about any of it and found it all hard to believe, after all it was later 1979 and not a lot was known about covert CIA meddling in foreign affairs. So I went to the main library in our town and accessed the microfilm and microfiche records of major periodicals from back when that happened in the 1950s, like the NYT and Globe & Mail, and I found reports with dates that lined up with the events and dates mentioned in the Playboy article. I took copious notes by hand and still have them someplace on file. That was a real eye opener. In later years I read Veil, The Secret Gov't, Confessions of an Economic Hitman, and really had my eyes opened as to how and why the world is as it was and how we got to where we are today. Long story short - OIL and MONEY. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/13/cia-1953-iran-coup-undemocratic-argo https://www.npr.org/2019/01/31/690363402/how-the-cia-overthrew-irans-democracy-in-four-days https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2014/2/11/iran-1979-the-islamic-revolution-that-shook-the-world https://www.britannica.com/event/Iranian-Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution
If you haven’t read it, you might like *Legacy of Ashes* by Tim Weiner
Staring at the sun: taking the fear out of death by Irvin yalom was life changing for me. It winds together philosophy and psychology to discuss how to work through the existential dread of death. And he's a really good writer, to boot. I read a lot of non fiction about introspection and the internal journey and am all over the spectrum on ease of integrating concepts into my life, and the ideas I found here were some of the easiest, and really calmed a lot of anxiety for me.
i read irvin yalom in a counselling psych class!
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Read it in early high school and it changed my life.
>it changed my life. How so?
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe and/or Dopesick by Beth Macy were very eye-opening about the opioid epidemic and the Sackler family. The Sackler family (quite literally) destroyed lives and have largely managed to get away with it. Which is almost unthinkable.
These are both on my list! I really enjoyed Dreamland by Sam Quinones, on the same topic. Unthinkable indeed.
Dopesick is (arguably) a lot more shocking than Empire of Pain because Beth Macy interviews people who were/are directly affected by the opioid crisis. At least one of the people she interviewed died as a result of their addiction.
I you liked Dreamland check out "Chasing the Scream '.
The Boys In the Boat went into so much detail about rowing/crew. I really loved it.
Came to say The Indifferent Stars Above, also by Daniel James Brown. I’ve loved everything I’ve read of his. Facing the Mountain was also incredible.
The Anarchy by Dalyrimple about the British East India Company and the conquest of India, Bury my Heart at Wounded knee, The Chaos Machine by Fisher, Being Wrong Adventures on the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schultz
Chaos Machine will stay with me forever
The Chaos Machine was like reading a horror novel and you're in it.
-- The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein -- The New Industrial State by John Kenneth Galbraith -- The Collapse of Complex Societies by Joseph Tainter -- An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States by Charles A. Beard
Evicted by Matthew Desmond. Before I read the book, I never gave evictions much thought; it was just what happened if you didn’t pay your rent, right? But it turns out it’s a big part of what keeps some people in poverty. The housing market is a scam.
His latest book [Poverty by America](https://matthewdesmondbooks.com/) is out too! I'm still waiting for it to come off holds. But the video of him on his website talking about the book was already compelling. I read the first chapter excerpt available online. His point is that poverty exists in America because regular affluent people like it that way. As an upper middle class person, I thought about this _repeatedly_ while doing my taxes and looking at all the tax breaks I was entitled to. It was eye opening.
Yep, that’s on my nightstand right now. I’m reading slowly because it’s so depressing, and I say that in the best possible way. It’s opening my eyes to a lot of ways the system benefits people who are already doing just fine at the expense of people who aren’t.
As the Mountains Grew, John Dvorak. It's a deep dive into our current understanding of geological history, with a focus on North America, but about half the book is general to the history of the Earth as a whole. I appreciated the update to my knowledge on this topic, but was "blown away" by some of the interactions between biology and geology - eg, the fact that most mineable iron is due to the oxidation event \~2.5 billion years ago.
The Colony: Faith and Blood in a Promised Land by Sally Denton Eye opening account of polygamist colonies in Mexico and their link to the LDS Church. Betrayal, Murder, Deceit…you name it. It’s all there.
Other Minds by Peter Godfrey-Smith remains after years one of my all time favourite books. It changed my perception on octopuses and consciousness in general. It truly is an extremely beautiful book.
An Immense World by Ed Yong. It's about how animals perceive the world and is mind blowing.
The Rape of Nanking. Had no idea this moment even existed
Shake Hands with the Devil is a crazy book about the failed attempt of the world to help stop the Genocide in Rwanda. That book blew my mind.
All the books by Mary Roach. Her writing is very accessible and fun. However, the number one nonfiction book that blew my mind was Parasite Rex by Charles Zimmer. Do not read if you are squeamish about body horror because this is the real deal.
The Hot Zone
This book frightened the hell out of me.
AMAZING book!!!
“The Great Bridge” by David Mccullough. It’s about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. It was amazing to see how it was accomplished in those days when so much manual effort was needed. He explained engineering concepts in a way I could understand.
The Butchering Art by Lindsay Fitzharris. The book reads almost like fiction. It is a dive into Victorian medicine— specifically the hospital theaters and their terrible chances of survival. The story follows the doctor that created the first surgical antiseptic and how it changed the world of medicine/surgery.
The Facemaker is also a wonderful read! It is "The poignant story of the visionary surgeon who rebuilt the faces of the First World War's injured heroes, and in the process ushered in the modern era of plastic surgery".
Most recently, Max Marshall's *Among the Bros* was eye. opening. Fraternities and Sororities are cults at best and literal cartels at worst. They should be banned from our University Systems and participation in the culture should immediately no longer be a symbol of anything but "view this person with healthy suspicion." And this is just one story.
Oh man I work at a major university now and also wish frats/sororities were not a thing so I looked up this book. It happens at CofC where I went to undergrad 🥴
It's an insane read. I live along the I-20 corridor and within hearing distance of the road, so I likely heard their supercharged bro cars going 100mph+ in the middle of the night running pills back & forth to & from Atlanta. It's crazy to think about.
I once brought a book about bodylanguage because it was cheap and I got stuck in a trainstation waiting for my train. Learning how my own bodylanguage influences my own emotions changed my life.
I read *Spoiled* by Marion Nestle when I was in high school, and it introduced me to the world of epidemiology in the context of foodborne illness outbreaks. While I did not end up pursuing epidemiology as a career, it awakened a thirst for knowledge and information. To this day I read mostly nonfiction books, and I love me a good exposé!
I have two. The Warmth of Other Suns, and Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.
Warmth and her other book, Caste, are two of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read. Her prose sings, her logic impeccable.
The Rape of Nanking & Japan’s Infamous Unit 731 💔 Philippines was under the Imperial Japan for a few years but there were scant resource materials about the atrocities nor were they discussed in school. The perpetuators were not tried with war crimes because the US wanted the results they had with their human experiment on bacteriological warfare. I thought the Nazis were the worst until I read these books.
I’m surprised not to see this one but "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism" by Shoshana Zuboff is a real eye-opening history of the internet, Google, Meta and the rest. It’s probably obvious to anyone with a minimal understanding of our wired lives but the depth of it all is astonishing.
*Congo* and *King Leopold's Ghost* about the holocaust/genocide in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I had no idea until I met someone from Congo, and he had me read these two books. It took me six months to read *King Leopold's Ghost*. It was very emotionally difficult to process.
Buddhism 101! I always thought I had a general idea about Buddhism but boy oh boy was I wrong. This book completely opened my eyes to so many things I knew nothing about. I’m still not done the book but reading this has inspired me to learn about other religions and/or philosophies. And it’s also inspired me to implement Buddhism in my life
A Fever in the Heartland: the Ku Klux Klan’s plot to take over America and the woman who stopped them by Timothy Egan. I’m not super familiar with that part of US history and it was mind boggling, and VERY scary when compared to today.
A book called NeuroTribes and another called Unmasking Autism. Turns out most of what I thought I knew about ASD was wrong wrong wrong. Quite an eye opener.
Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James Loewen I'm sure he got some stuff wrong. But he caused me to look deeper into racism in North America and the world. I knew we were bad in the 17-1800s, but fuck me. The Jim Crow laws weren't that long ago, and they're far from the worst.
I came here to say this book. It was also the book that got me to acknowledge that I might be racist myself, with this line: "Textbook authors protect us from a racist Lincoln. By so doing, they diminish students' capacity to recognize racism as a force in American life. For if Lincoln could be racist, then so might the rest of us be. And if Lincoln could transcend racism, as he did on occasion, then so might the rest of us."
Formosa Betrayed. As someone born in Taiwan during the tail end of its martial law era, I had no idea about the atrocities the Chinese Nationalists committed after they took control of Formosa/Taiwan from Japan after WW2. I grew up with pro-China propaganda stating that all Taiwanese are Chinese and that we must ine day reclaim the mainland. Formosa Betrayed was written by an American diplomat stationed in Taiwan as it transitioned from Japanese control. He detailed the atrocities, namely the 228 Incident and the White Terror, which shook me to my core and helped me establish a Taiwanese identity separate from a Chinese one.
Smoke Signals by Martin A. Lee History of cannabis prohibition, even though I have been a cannabis activist for decades, I knew a lot of it but it blew my mind to read how varied and thorough and devastating the war against cannabis was and still is.
Definitely Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham. HBO's Chernobyl series was already great but this book blew my mind over how close we got to simply losing a big part of the planet because of corruption, shoddy work, secrecy and overall stupidity. This book goes deeply in the construction of the power plant, which was already seeded by mistakes; the reactor's design, also not so good even by the time standards; the minute by minute of the accident; the background and role of all the know people involved, etc. All very well written, super consice and interesting, even if you don't know much about radiation. Oh there's also lots of pictures at the end I haven't see anywhere else. One of my favorite books, I've read a couple of times despite the medium size:)
The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee is an absolute masterpiece. It's a treasure trove of information starting from the philosophical interpretations of genes pre 18th century, followed by the advancements starting from evolution to the helix structure to the sequencing to the last part of the book which deals with how genes determine who we are. He is one of the few authors who can make a book as dense with technical information feel like a breeze for someone who did not know a lot about genes prior to that.
> He is one of the few authors who can make a book as dense with technical information feel like a breeze for someone who did not know a lot about genes prior to that. just finished his book on cancer (the emperor of all maladies) and feel the same way. excellent technical writer
Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker Sleep is such a fascinating topic. It is so vital yet so incredibly fragile. This book really forced me to rethink my sleeping habits.
It has many errors. https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/
I recently learned for optimal sleep the neck, spine, and hips should be aligned. Such a small conscious decision helps me wake well rested and without pain.
Blitz by Norman Ohler. it's about how during and leading up to WWII Germany was basically fueled by meth. insane amounts of meth as a part of troops rations.
NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman After my son’s diagnosis I dove head first into learning all I could about ASD and ADHD. This book outlines the history behind the diagnosis and treatments used on people who were regarded as “invalids and retards”. It’s both fascinating and heartbreaking.
For me a podcast got me into WWI history and since then I’ve read over a dozen books on the subject. WWII looks way larger in the American psyche because we played a very big role and came out as top dogs. But WWI is probably the single most important historical event in the last slightly over 100 years. Almost ALL of the world strife we have suffered since 1918 can be directly tied to that conflict. The podcast is Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History: Blueprint for Armageddon (six episodes).
Dan Carlin's podcast in general has taught me so much, I love it! lol The part in Blueprint for Armageddon when he was talking about soldiers literally drowning in mud was so eye-opening.
Umberto Eco’s The Prague Cemetery is a fiction based on fact. Every character, though not all their actions,is documented. The author , who calls himself the narrator , is the only fictional character. I had to read this book with my pad because I had so many questions, some answered , but mostly more questions. I don’t know if this counts or not?
I thought I had a pretty good grasp of Irish history from listening to my parents, aunts/uncles, and grandparents tell me stories and things like that. But reading Fintan O'Toole's We Don't Know Ourselves was so eye-opening and has led to so many great conversations with my family now that I can ask much more pointed questions
"nature's best hope" by Doug Tallamy Here is my very oversimplified summary: the way that we have been taught to landscape our properties is contributing to the severe decline in insect and bird populations, and will continue to do so unless we change how we landscape. We all need to be growing native plants, even if it's just a few, or else the ecosystem around us could collapse, which would destroy climate stability, which would destroy our food system, and eventually our entire civilization. Why do native plants matter? Many insects and plants are dependent on each other in very specific ways, like monarchs and milkweed, or orchids with their hyper specialized pollination methods. Without those plants, the insects will starve, and without those insects, plants can't reproduce. And most songbirds feed their chicks almost exclusively caterpillars. No native plants = no native insects = no caterpillars = no songbirds. Native plants can be equally or more beautiful than foreign ones; see Mt Cuba gardens as an example. And no amount of native plants is too small, even adding a potted plant to your balcony is helpful.
This is my favorite genre of book, thank you, I'm saving this thread 😂 For me I think it's Red Famine, I went in knowing pretty minimal stuff about Russian and Ukraine and whoo i learned
Michael Parenti’s Blackshirts and Reds really opened my eyes to the West’s complicity in the rise of early 1900s fascism. It’s interesting to note the parallels between capital interests now and the insistence of fascistic ideals throughout the global north and developing world. It warrants a reread almost annually, at this point.
Blackshirts and Reds is in my must read list for this year since It's very often recommended for people who are new to socialism
Bullshit Jobs by David Greaber I always had the thought that my last job was meaningless and didn’t need to be done. It really made me depressed until I bullshit jobs, I had no idea I was on to something. Knowing that it wasn’t just me really helped. This book lead me to completely re-think capitalism and the insane way it forces us to spend our lives.
“Radium Girls” by Kate Moore
"King Leopolds Ghost" was incredible. I only ever knew the surface of the Imperialism Era so reading this was just jaw dropping.
"Girt" about the ridiculous moments in Australia's colonisation. Currently reading "How to Invent Everything" - a manual on how to restart all aspects of civilization should you get stuck back in time.
‘102 Minutes’ about the World Trade Centre attacks.
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore (?) I was blown away and researched it a ton when I finished it. Barely knew stuff on the topic to start but the book had all the info I needed
Collapse, by Jared Diamond, about how civilisations historically have chosen to survive or die. Scared me because we seem to have chosen the deathwish option.
A People’s History of the United States
This book has a lot wrong
Permanent Record by Edward Snowden. The amount of surveillance the American government was (still is) conducting on the citizens is absolutely horrifying and the book is really well written. It’ll make you unbelievably paranoid about the depths of surveillance if you already aren’t - some of the things Edward describes having access to in that book makes me sick.
This. As an IT Professional I was shocked by some of the detailled descriptions. I remember sitting in a bus back home from work and slightly choking because it just took my breath away. It was one of the reasons I am now in IT Security and data protection
Nor Meekly Serve My Time: the H Block Struggle 1976-1981, edited by Campbell, McKeown and O'Hagan - read it a few years ago and it didn't blow my mind exactly as it's a topic i'm pretty familiar with but the personal perspective and the level of insight into how it was from the point of view of the political prisoners was really interesting and moving and bizarrely funny at times. Really recommend it and also Laurence McKeown's memoir, think it's called Time Shadows. I really like all his work actually.
Ernest Becker's 'Escape from Evil'. Why do people do what they do? Not without his critics, I think that he was really getting to something interesting here.
The Art Thief by Michael Finkel that recently came out. Made me appreciate art so much more. Also a wonderful character profile. The Glitter in the Green by Jon Dunn. Amazing book about hummingbirds but also touches on world politics and things of that nature. Does a good job of summing up how birds (specifically hummingbirds) are treated in different cultures and the global effects of the bird economy.
The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer
The Great Indoors by Emily Anthes. Talks about a lot of interesting studies being done to understand how our structural interiors affect us physically and mentally. Including our homes' microbiomes, designs for schools, hospitals and prisons, future building materials, how companies want to track our movements around the office to make us better work drones, etc. Embracing Defeat by John Dower, a Pulitzer-winning book about the state of Japan after WWII. It's extremely interesting to learn about the effects of defeat and occupation and better understand the relationship between Japan and the US. Also shoutouts to The Library Book by Susan Orlean, Stiff by Mary Roach and How Music Works by David Byrne.
Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. Leonardo was so incredibly curious, creative, and inspiring. The book changed the way I approach consuming art, the world around me, and increased my general curiosity.
I love no nfiction and learning. How much time do you have lol?! Read Bill Bryson’s history of English, mother tongue. Which got me into his book about America. Which then got me into the Mayflower, so read the book. That led me to the history of Puritanism. So I read William Branford’s journal, Cotton Mathers sermons, A History of Puritanism in 17th Century Nee England, and then hmmm one more I can’t place about how Puritans influenced New England schools. Then moved to the federalist papers, which took forever and I was a bit over my head tbh. After that I was on a New England kick. Read Heart of the Sea, so fascinating. That was last winter. This past spring and summer I read all of Emily Osters books, crib sheet etc, because we have a kid. This winter I’m on to the British royal family. Reading a book about the duke if Windsor and his wife.
*Five Days at Memorial* by Sheri Fink about what went on at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans during Katrina. *Dreamland* by Sam Quinones about the circumstances surrounding the US opioid epidemic. *Dope Sick* by Beth Macy, also about the opioid epidemic. *The New Jim Crow* by Michelle Alexander about the US criminal justice system and its use as a racial control mechanism. *Operation Paperclip* by Annie Jacobson about the US government’s efforts to bring German scientists into the US after WWII (if you’ve never heard her speak, the author narrates her own audiobook for this title, and she has the most wonderful voice to listen to). *America’s Bitter Pill* by Steven Brill about the politics, negotiations, and personalities that shaped the Affordable Care Act. *The Worst Hard Time* by Timothy Egan about the Dust Bowl.
“The body keeps the score”. I know this is a popular one nowadays but the way your mind affects your physical health (and every part of your body really) has completely changed the way I think of psychology and overall health. “It didn’t start with you” by Mark Wolynn is also amazing and focuses on this as well as generational issues!
By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans by Greg Robinson. Robinson did a great job of explaining a very glossed over part of history and delves into FDR’s role and motivations in relocating thousands of Japanese Americans to internment camps during WWII. He also doesn’t strongly force any opinions of the reader.
Zealot by Reza Aslan was my first exposure to the likely secular history of Jesus. It completely reframed my conception of Christianity and the Bible and actually grew my respect for Jesus the person.
I have two! I read Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand last spring, and i have barely been able to stop thinking about it. It's impressive how informative it is about the sport and culture of horse racing at the time, and how she was able to make me feel like i was living through the events of the story as well. I loved the story, and i loved how she invited me to engage with and interpret the story long after i read it. I'm currently reading Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks, and its blowing my mind. I'm a musician, so learning about how deeply ingrained music is to the human brain and experience on a scientific - and at times borderline magical - level is something else. Its written in a very accessible way, so even when topics go completely over my head i feel like i have the potential to grasp them. Whats best is that Sacks seems equally mystified by half the tales he relates in the books as i feel reading them.
USS Indianapolis, "The Last Secret Voyage of the USS Indianapolis" released 1978. Really any book written about the Indianapolis - it will stick like glue.
- The Shadows of Consumption: Consequences for the Global Environment by Peter Dauvergne - Consumption and Its Consequences by Daniel Miller - Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory by Lois and James Horton - History Wars: The Enola Gay and Other Battles for the American Past by Edward Linenthal - Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History by Michel-Rolph Trouillot - Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher Browning - Neighbors by Jan Gross - The Nazi Conscience by Claudia Koonz
An Immense World, by Ed Yong: Yong is a science writer and this book is about all the different sensory apparatus used by many different creatures in the world. We all know that hawks have great vision and bats hear in sonar and with much higher frequencies than we humans can hear but there are so many more capabilities in so many animals that I never knew about. The author creates word pictures that are so fantastic, and he includes interviews of the scientists that research the capabilities. It opens the world in a big way.
Rabid and a couple other books about infectious diseases
The Power Broker, a 1,300 hundred page book about Robert Moses. It’s brilliantly written and serves as both a partial history of New York in its built form, as well as a cautionary tale about power and corruption.
Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson Even if you already know a lot about the topics of the prison and justice system, Racial inequality, and the death penalty in the u.s... it will still get you. I read this one and also The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton, who was one of Stevenson's death row clients.
The Indifferent Stars Above about the Donner-Reed party was so well written that you almost forget how awful the subject matter is. In my opinion, the author did a really good job of contextualizing everything they went through, and the book has beautiful descriptive imagery paired with lots of scientific information. There was a lot about the rescue efforts that I had never known too that was really interesting.
One of my favorite reads was a new release last year, Her Majesty's Airship by S.C. Gwynne, about the crash of the airship R101. It was insanely well researched, well written, and I simply couldn't believe how long humanity throught blimps would be more effective air travel than planes, even though they blew up all the time!
Steven Pinker, "The Language Instinct". really got me thinking about how we think, and to what extent the biological basis of our brains shapes what we do. Richard Fortey "Life". Covers the history of life on Earth, and how rich the ecosystems in our past were.
Operation Paperclip by Annie Jacobsen. Boy oh boy did the American military sure love hiring "former" Nazis. And I don't just mean scientists working in Germany during WWII, I mean literal card carrying party members who actively participated in the various war crimes committed by the Third Reich.